Early childhood educators are sounding the alarm at changes proposed by the Trump administration to loosen regulations on the industry such as staff-to-child ratios. Advocates are on the edge of their seats after the public comment period closed on a proposal from the administration that would take a unified Head Start, a program that serves 700,000 children from low-income households, and create a state-by-state approach for many regulations. But in an industry already plagued by staffing shortages and low pay — educators fear these changes will make the job even more difficult.

A survey of almost 4,000 early childhood educators from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) found a majority worry that increasing staff-to-child ratios will make their jobs harder and pose as a safety issue for everyone involved. Eighty percent say bigger group sizes would make it harder to meet students’ individual needs, and 78 percent said there is greater risk of more people leaving the industry due to burnout. More than half of early childhood educators said they would be likely to leave if the ratios increased.

"I think that if they were to try to raise the child to teacher ratio, that it would just completely collapse the industry," said Tricia Hulsether, a worker at Windy Willow Preschool in Minnesota. "It's already very difficult to have, especially in an infant room, four to one ratio. If they were to try and raise that, no one would want to work in that room." "Even at a four to one ratio, we have our administrative staff and our other teachers stepping in just to assist at certain times of the day, and if that was more, no one would want to be in there," she added. "I think the parents wouldn't want their child in there either. It wouldn't just be that the teachers are too stressed.

The children are going to be distressed." The Trump administration’s proposal shifts the responsibility of regulation onto the states, creating vastly different class sizes, education requirements and background checks depending on the area. Some states have the same staff-to-child ratio requirements as current federal guidance, but more than half do not. “Today, we are returning Head Start to those roots. We are removing unnecessary bureaucracy, strengthening nutrition and physical health, trusting parents and local communities, and opening Head Start to hundreds of thousands more children. That’s how we renew the promise of Head Start for the next generation,” Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Said when announcing the proposed changes to Head Start.

The Hill has reached out to HHS for comment. While the Trump administration touted the changes could add 200,000 more spots for students; some argue deregulation does not fix the money problem for childcare providers or parents. "We are not going to deregulate our way out of what is fundamentally a financing problem for childcare," said Susan Gale Perry, CEO of Child Care Aware of America. "So, whether it's state regulation or federal regulation, childcare is a people-intensive business. Parents can't afford what it actually costs to provide care, safe and nurturing care, and providers really can't afford to pay the wages that they need to attract and retain great teachers."

Another NAEYC report found childcare costs are rising and hasn’t been caused by increasing pay for educators. Providers say from 2024 to 2025, the cost of paying educators went up 4 percent, according to the report, but liability and property insurance costs both went up by more than 20 percent. With increased ratios of staff to children, some worry insurance costs could go up even more.

“Childcare liability insurance has been rising at a rocket rate, and unfortunately, a very predictable conclusion of changing things that keep children, an appropriate number of children, an appropriate number of adults, those adults being well trained in understanding child development and how to actually supervise children, when you change those things, you're going to have more children get hurt, which means insurance is going to skyrocket even more,” said Tyrone Scott, director of government and external affairs at First Up Pennsylvania, a group supporting child care education in Pennsylvania.

“The costs that you may have saved will be turned back on the parents, but now you have hurt children on top of it,” he added. Where early childhood educators and the Trump administration reach an agreement is on the burden of duplicated reporting requirements for childcare providers within different government systems. Sixty percent in the survey said they have to submit the same information to multiple agencies, 56 percent said the paperwork takes more time than they expected when they took the job and 50 percent perform compliance work on unpaid time.

But advocates argue the focus for solutions to child care need to be on investment, not solely regulation. “I think we are also continuing to support efforts to really reimagine and strengthen our systems so that we can reach more children and families, serve all children and families who need access to quality childcare, and ensure that as we're serving more children and families, that we're increasing payment rates that are associated with that, so that educators are able to be paid like the professionals they are, and recognized as professionals, whether they're working in a childcare center or a family childcare home. That requires significantly more investment,” said Daniel Hains, NAEYC’s chief policy and professional advancement officer.